Nestle sells 3.3 crore packs of Maggi in 10 days

NEW DELHI: Nestle India has so far sold 3.3 crore packs of its instant noodles Maggi in 350 towns across India since the relaunch of the product last week, five months after it was banned by central food safety regulator FSSAI.

In an analyst presentation, the company said it is selling Maggi at 1.2 lakh outlets through 724 distributors.

On the financial implications of the ban on Maggi, Nestle India said it had to bear an exceptional cost of Rs 476.2 crore, which included cost of destroying 34,663 tons of the noodles.

Nestle India said it took hit of Rs 161.4 crore as third party commitments, reverse transportation, cost of incinerating stock, handling, repacking, laboratory testing among others, while Rs 314.8 crore included cost of finished goods and duties and taxes paid by the company.

Nestle had relaunched Maggi noodles in the market on November 9, 2015 after fulfilling conditions set by Bombay High Court which lifted ban imposed by FSSAI and Maharashtra FDA.

According to the company, the ban had impacted 3.97 lakh wheat farmers and 15,000 spice farmers besides over 10,000 employees of its suppliers.

It had also impacted its 3,000 contract workers also.

With Maggi back in the market, Nestle India said it is now aiming for "bring back double digit growth" and "back to stability".